Soon after, Kinai leaves the office with the approved documents and those that need to be revised. The sound of a pen writing on paper with the occasional turning of pages echoes in the office until a knock on the door disrupts the flow of the undisturbed ambience. A staff from the dining hall enter with a tray of food. The smell of food stirs Lord Sol's forgotten hunger which in turn reminds him of the time.
"Pardon the intrusion, my lord. Today's lunch menu is chopped vegetables and minced meat wrapped in garlic flatbread and iced tea. Please enjoy your meal."
"Thank you. You may leave."
Lord Sol dismiss the staff after delivering the food to his desk. When he's alone again, the head elf pushes aside his work and drinks the iced tea first and move on to the warm food that's enticing his hunger. Right after he finishes his meal, the head elf stands by the window and look ahead.
He speaks while gazing at the general direction towards the sanctuary, "Roy creates trouble; Iris attracts trouble. When you leave those two together, will Luna be able to handle it all on her own?"
After a momentary pause, the head elf begins to worry.
"Should I have asked Lorelai or Stefan to accompany them?"
Not long after that, Lord Sol receives a response to his worry which he later laments that he utter such thoughts aloud. The delicate yet bulky spherical ornament sitting on his desk vibrates loudly, signalling an incoming call. Only his fellow sages can contact him with this magi communication device for confidentiality reason, or in case of an emergency.
"You're not busy, right?"
Roy implies without so much a greeting after Lord Sol connects the call.
Lord Sol suppresses a sigh before talking. "What is it? You rarely make the first call unless it is urgent. Did something happen at the rehabilitation centre, or to Iris?"
"Luna can tell you about the specifics later. It's Iris. The Lion Pride summoned her."
Lord Sol knit his brows after hearing Roy delivers the most unexpected news.
"I suspect you're telling me this because she met them by now."
"She met them already," Roy confirms his suspicion then drops another shocking news. "And, I convinced the kid to carry out an extraction."
Lord Sol drops the quilt pen. The head elf knows very well what Roy means by those words.
"You found a remedy to the dilemma that Luna nor Maya could not solve? An outcome that does not include the Pride losing their king a second time? Need I remind you, Roy, that the case with the Lion Pride is complex?"
"I know. I was there when the tragedy happened."
The head elf begins recounting the past. "The black mana clung onto the host while the unborn king was still in the womb and planted itself deeply to the unborn's core. The cub was fortunate to be born not as a tainted monster due to Maya's effort easing the lioness's struggle during the delivery. Even so, the cub's health was frail, hence, any attempt of uprooting the black mana completely risked losing the cub's life and the Lion Pride will be without a king. Observing the cub grow, nourishing it with special grade potions and periodically cast light and recovery magic was the only way to delay the black mana devouring the young king from within."
"In conclusion, you're saying the complex part lies with the core."
Before the elf sage could say any more, Roy compiles his words to one sentence and divulge the declining condition of the young king based on Iris's diagnosis.
Lord Sol covers his face with one hand and mumbles, "Is there nothing to be done?"
"There is a way, a way to catch the pest."
"Let's hear it."
"Mana signature. The kid mentioned it before and that got me thinking, could it not be used to locate which part on the young king's body the pest is lurking and focus on it?"
"Hmm... that certainly might work. Iris is highly perceptive with mana, she could very easily trace it to the core," the elf sage ponder.
Roy relays the whole plan via the magi communication device.
"This plan of yours is risky," Lord Sol bluntly expresses his thoughts. "Since the young king cannot handle the added strain to its body, Iris will have to manage several spells simultaneously with accurate precision using her so-called wand."
"I'll take care of her mana depletion but I can't guarantee how she'll be able to take on the pest once she nears the core. The kid doesn't have the training nor the experience."
After quick yet careful consideration, the elf sage speaks. "Make certain Iris doesn't force her way towards the core. Tell her to do it slowly and carefully. In the meantime, I will scour the archives pertaining to the core and head to the sanctuary as soon as I find something useful."
On that note, Roy cut off the communication.
The head elf leans back in his chair and takes a moment to process his thoughts. A minute later, he walks out of his office, down the hall to where Kinai's office is located. The door to Kinai's office is constantly slightly open because he finds it a nuisance to repetitively hear knocking sound since people regularly come in and out of his office to deliver paperwork and guards giving their daily reports. The only elf who knocks on Kinai's door would be the head elf.
knock, knock.
Every elf present in Kinai's office glance at the door. Kinai promptly stands from his chair and strides towards the head elf. Behind Kinai, three of his assistants respectfully greet Lord Sol, seeming unflustered by their lord's appearance.
"What do you need, my lord?"
Kinai goes straight to the point.
"First of all, can you tell someone from the dining hall to bring me another glass of iced tea, no, make it a jar?"
"Right away, my lord."
It only takes a single glance from Kinai to signal one of his assistants to execute the task.
"Contact Luna at the rehabilitation centre. Tell her to brief us about what's happening over there and maintain constant communication. Also, inform the head librarian to bring books about monsters' anatomy and records about monsters' core to my office."
"Is there anything specific you'd like to read? I shall inform the head librarian to gather the information for them first."
Kinai enquires to narrow the search; his quick-wittedness works best in a situation like this.
The head elf responds straight to the point, "The Lion Pride."
"We shall compile the articles from the most recent data."
Kinai and his assistants momentarily halt their work and execute the tasks they abruptly receive with swift action. Back in his own office, Lord Sol takes out two file boxes labelled mana signature and heat sensors from the shelves. Due to the confidentiality nature of the two subjects, safety devices are attached on the file boxes and it can only be unlocked with the registered owner's mana. In this case, the owner is Lord Sol. The head elf skims through the contents of the papers; results from conducted trials done by the rangers and magic researchers that derives from Iris's well-written theory. So far, there's been several successful attempts of controlling the 'heat sensor' spell from the rangers during night scouting. However, 'mana signature' is proven to be more challenging even for the elves that have lived in the forest with densely filled mana for centuries.
"We're relying on relatively new magic to fight against a persistently strong pest and save a feeble soul," says the head elf as he puts down the paper he's reading and gulp the refilled glass of iced tea.
Lord Sol recollect the conversation he had with Iris.
She explains. "Basically, what we know so far is the large pool of mana inside a person whether they are born with it or receive a blessing from a spirit, affects the colours of either their hair or eyes. A perfect example is the shade of the green forest for Luda's hair."
Iris ignores the stare she's receiving as she is the most qualified as proof.
"Anyway, after learning that colours reflect each elemental attribute including the shade of white and dark grey for light and dark, respectively. Oddly enough, black is not included in the colour scheme of mana. I read about them somewhere from an old scroll; about how each person's core shines differently. It was probably transcribed by a mage with the skill that allowed the person to see what normally cannot be seen. So, I tried 'seeing' it by sensing mana all around me but all I got is one big mushy green canvas and a terrible headache. Then, I tried changing my perspective. The scroll is ancient so, the meaning of the same word might be interpreted differently. Let's not forget I'm not from around here, so the word could be translated to fit the context for my own understanding."
"Your point, Iris?"
"Spirits with the same elemental attribute doesn't share similar ambience. Why is that?" Iris raises a question.
"Because they retain their own uniqueness and that defines who they are."
"That uniqueness is what we should be focusing on."
Lord Sol rubs his chin and considers her words with keen interest.
Iris hints the crucial point with a single word while showing a playful smile, "Colours."
Lord Sol thinks for a while in his seat, but Iris couldn't wait to relay her findings anymore like finding the last missing piece of a thousand puzzle pieces. She provides another hint.
"Instead of waiting for a person with a unique skill to untangle the ambiguity of mana, there's already one that we can use right now."
Realisation slowly dawns on the head elf when he compares his knowledge with Iris's explanation and the hints.
"'Presence Detection' is also a skill that detects mana from our surroundings, isn't it?"
Iris widely grins after giving the answer that's right in front of him all along. The head elf who claims to be the most knowledgeable of magic after Elder Spirit sit motionless and dumbfounded.
When Lord Sol shows no sign of coming back to reality, Iris tries to consoles him. "Sometimes the answer is not so far as one might think. Maybe that's the reason no one thought to find the method to the answer when it's closeby."
No response.
"Come one, it's not conclusive yet." Then, she murmurs to herself, "I manage to catch a small glimpse, though."
A knock on the door disturbed the head elf's thoughts. Kinai carries in the books and documents he asks for.
"Here are what you asked for, my lord."
Lord Sol opens the marked page on the book about monsters' anatomy.
"Thank you. Leave me be for a moment."
The head elf mentally notes how much time has passed since Roy called.
"No time to waste."
Lord Sol organises all the information he needs on the table then gather his mana and recite a spell. "Unlock the door to the [skill] 'Archives'."
Floods of information rush into his head and the head elf skilfully steer through the heaps of knowledge accumulated throughout his long life.
"An answer that's always been closeby."
The head elf remembers the words Iris says clearly then commands the skill.
"Show me."